Real-time market research is essential in developing a sustainable business strategy

Real-time market research is essential in developing a sustainable business strategy

Market research is a fundamental processes that needs to be undertaken by any business or organization interested in growing and improving their customer experience. We often misinterpret the process of market research as an overly pedantic academic exercise that occurs prior to the implementation of a business strategy or the formation of a business as a preparatory step to get a better understanding of the market you are entering or growing into. This is an incomplete picture of the true depth of market research.

Market research includes a real time understanding of your users (analytics), your competitors and trends emerging within your industry. For the digital media company that produces online news content for example, this real-time market research may involve understanding the impact the prevalence of adblocker usage will have on your future ad revenue. Over 2017, adblocker usage grew substantially, with some publications estimating that usage had grown by 41%. Since adblockers work by blocking ads that digital media companies and online publishers often use as a source of revenue, adblockers adversely affect revenue from online ads. According to data published by Adobe, this cost the online advertising ecosystem almost $22 billion in revenue in 2015 alone. Even though Google Chrome has recently been updated with a default ability to block ads that do not comply with the standards set by the Coalition for Better Ads (which means if you use Google AdWords you would probably not be affected by the Chrome update) the overarching trend is that if you rely heavily on online ad revenue, you may want to focus on making your online ads more native or diversify your income streams because people are increasingly beginning to dislike non-subtle online ads

Real-time market research gives you the ability to constantly understand your customer and the pain points they encounter while interacting with your business. This understanding gives you the ability to constantly optimize your website/software/app /customer journey to reduce friction in the customer journey. This applies to all companies, regardless of the sector you are in, if you are not to great lengths to understand your customer and trends shaping your market you are not positioning yourself well for future growth.